Prairie Garden - New Part - Early April

The most recent portion of the Prairie Garden is too new to offer much of interest.  This area was sprayed twice with glyphosate herbicide last October and was seeded in November and December.  I always try to plant seed at the same time of year that it is naturally being dropped by the plant.  I figure that should give the seed the right combination of cold, heat, wet or dry conditions necessary for germination.  It’s more successful and much easier than packaging seed and storing it for periods in the freezer.

The glyphosate spray got rid of many of the late season grasses and forbs, but left plenty of seeds from those early flowering species.  The bulk of the green plants now showing are non-native species typically found in disturbed areas around the house and yard.  This is Corn Speedwell, a low growing plant that has no fear of lawn mowers.

The only plants of any height are the Hairy Bittercress.  These little weeds forcibly propel the ripe seeds from the pod, so you don’t want to make a close examination without some eye protection.

Whitlow Grass, Draba verna, has petals that are split down the middle, so the regular four petals often appear to be eight. The split petal easily distinguishes this non-native species from the native Drabas.

Many years ago I excitedly thought these narrow leaved seedlings to be those of a Blazing Star.  I was really disappointed when they turned out to be English Plantain.

Mouse-ear Chickweed is a rather interesting looking plant, but it’s also one of those weedy non-natives.

Purple Dead Nettle often forms a solid mass in crop fields and other disturbed ground.  Fortunately, I don’t have to deal with that type of infestation.  Many of these non-native plants will persist indefinitely in the Prairie Garden, but their vigor will be reduced by competition with the prairie natives.

Many of the native seedlings won’t become evident until later in the season.  There are a few that show themselves early in the spring and they give me hope that my seeding will be successful.  Gray-headed Coneflower is a rapid grower that can often flower in its first year.

Several Purple Coneflower seedlings are appearing.  Besides being a great attractor of butterflies, the Purple Coneflowers help convince the more confused individuals that this is an actual garden and not a weed patch.

Wild Petunias are one of the few natives that readily volunteer in the yard.  It’s nice to know that the lawn hasn’t been completely taken over by alien species.

Prairie Garden - Old Part - Early April

Growth in the Prairie Garden is proceeding at a rapid rate.  Plants are roughly a month ahead of where they were last year.  The old portion of the Prairie Garden was mowed the first week of February and we’ve had above normal temperatures during the two months since then.  Plants that take their growth cues from soil temperature have emerged at a time when the top growth is still at risk from damage by a frost or freeze.  I know from experience that some of these plants cannot handle freezing and there will be a die-back of top growth when we get a frost.

The most obvious plant in the Prairie Garden at this time is the Western Sunflower.  These plants often survive the winter as a cluster of green basal leaves, so it’s not surprising that they take off as soon as the spring temperatures allow. 

Western Sunflower is an aggressive plant and will soon spread to take over just about any area.  It does produce viable seed, but most of the rapid expansion is through far reaching rhizomes that produce new plants.  The result is a large colony of clones. 

The grasses are coming on very quickly.  I’m wondering if the grasses will give more competition to the early blooming flowers.  This is a clump of Side-oats Gramma, which normally stays very short until the mid-summer months.

The leaves of the False Aloe are rapidly elongating.  These plants will produce flower stalks this year if they are not knocked back by a freeze.  At this stage they are highly susceptible to damage by a hard frost.

Purple Coneflower plants are showing some luxurious growth.

My population of Wild Nodding Onion still hasn’t increased in number.  The only plants I have are those protected by the wire cage.  Most of the seed produced by these plants has been scattered back into the garden, but no more plants have emerged.  I don’t know if the seeds are failing to germinate or if predators are eating the plants as quickly as they develop. 

The first Prairie Garden bloom this year is the Hoary Puccoon.  This is an early plant that is pretty much on schedule, but it usually doesn’t have all of this competing growth to deal with.

These young plants remain unidentified at the moment.  I’ll keep a watch on them until they reach a stage where I can either run them through the keys or I recognize what they are.  It’s not unusual for me to be baffled by a young plant in its early stages of growth.  One reason for this garden is to allow me to watch things grow on a day-to-day basis, so that I’ll be able to identify a plant the minute it sticks leaves above the ground. 

Collecting Purple Coneflower Seed

The Purple Coneflower in my Coneflower Management Area produced an abundance of seed this year. Conditions were perfect for seed collection. The remnants of a morning frost softened the seed head so I could grab the spear-like bracts without the sharp points breaking off beneath the skin of my palms. I later had to spread the seeds out to dry, but that was easier than tweezing a bunch of spines out of my hand.

There were enough plants growing in this small area that I was able to collect about a pint of seed. That’s not bad for a site that just a few years ago held only a few blooming plants and a lot of spindly basal leaf clusters.

The plants aren’t quite as easy to see now as they were when in bloom. I had to get right into the stand before I could see the seed heads sitting atop the tall stalks.

It only took a couple of minutes to strip the seed heads of their bounty. Half of the seed I collected was immediately scattered into some nearby openings. I’m hoping that five years from now this coneflower site will have blooming plants stretching another 150 feet along the base of the hillside.

I always sacrifice a few seeds to make sure that they developed properly. Every seed I checked was full and ready to grow.

I wasn’t the first seed collector to visit the coneflower patch. I scared a Goldfinch away from this seedhead as I walked into the clearing. I usually feel guilty about taking the bird’s food, but I never take it all. I left about half of the seed heads in place to be eaten or scattered naturally. If the finches come up to the house, I’ll be glad to replace the pilfered coneflower seed with some high quality sunflower seed.

Purple Coneflower Management

Ecosystem management is a challenge, but I also consider it a fascinating and enjoyable endeavor. The basic idea is to take something that is moving and make it go in the direction of your choosing. The movement takes place through time and we perceive that movement as changes in the composition and balance of plants and animals in a particular area. Management begins with a vision of what we think the landscape should be. Next we evaluate the components to determine the existing direction of change. Finally, we do something to redirect that change.

Ecological change is a powerful force. I like to think of it as a massive boulder rolling wildly down a mountain slope. It’s too strong and variable for us to deal with directly, but we can put obstacles in its path that deflect it enough to change the course of its journey. It’s sometimes hard to sense this incredible force, because we are taught to view nature as being calm, peaceful and serene. This may describe how we feel when we’re out enjoying a natural setting, but every living thing we view is there because it was able to triumph over its competitors and it’s all at risk of being replaced with something else in the continuing course of change.

So, in my management efforts, I try to make little directional changes that will create my desired ecosystems. I target rare species and try to create conditions in which those species will thrive. The rarities are sometimes slow to respond or absent in certain locations, so I use more common species to evaluate the effectiveness of my efforts. An example is the Purple Coneflower, now showing itself as a cluster of basal leaves. Purple Coneflower is a plant that is commonly associated with prairie areas and does well in conditions that are also associated with a broad range of prairie forbs. If the coneflower prospers, so should many other of my priority species.

Although Purple Coneflower is a common plant across its range, it was very rare at Blue Jay Barrens when I first began my management efforts. I found a few flowering specimens around and then I found a group of non-flowering plants growing in a cedar thicket. It seemed logical that the plants would grow better if they were given more sunlight. I removed a couple of cedar trees and was gifted with a cluster of flowering coneflowers. Seed was once again being produced on this site. In addition, other stunted coneflowers began to exhibit more vigorous clusters of basal leaves. Over a period of years, I removed several cedars and the Purple Coneflower population continued to expand.

The Purple Coneflowers are now becoming quite widespread on this site. I’m sure they would respond favorably to the removal of a few more trees, but I’ll continue to proceed cautiously in making changes. One of my concerns is the fact that neighboring areas that have nearly full sunlight contain no Purple Coneflower. Some of those areas are identical to this with only one difference, the amount of sunlight reaching the ground. The other areas may become too hot and dry for the coneflowers to survive. In any case, the coneflowers seem to benefit by having some shade and I would hate to do too much clearing and have their numbers begin to decline. It’s easy to cut a tree down, but it’s hard to put it back up. As long as things are going in the right direction, I’m content to proceed at a slow pace.

Purple Coneflower Area

Last year I mentioned the expanding population of Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, in a small clearing I created beside one of the prairie openings. This year I counted almost three times as many blooming plants as last year. Purple Coneflower is fast becoming a dominant species on this site.

The coneflower area was not cleared completely. My goal was to allow in enough sunlight to stimulate the plants to flower, scatter seed and increase in number. I wanted to leave enough trees to maintain the moist conditions favored by the coneflowers. The result has been very much what I wanted. It’s quite a good feeling to have things turn out just as planned. It doesn’t happen often.

Enough sunlight has entered the clearing to allow Purple Coneflowers to expand into the fringes of the uncleared areas. Doing some additional clearing ought to allow the population to increase even more. This is one of only two sites at Blue Jay Barrens that contains Purple Coneflower. The other site only has about a dozen plants and doesn’t have the same potential to expand.

The more open areas slightly uphill of the site tend to stay too dry for the coneflowers to persist. Without some shade, the coneflowers area would begin to look like the grassy area in the background. Now that I have a healthy population of Purple Coneflower, I can begin collecting seed to introduce into other suitable areas of Blue Jay Barrens.

Basal leaves of young plants almost cover the ground in this area. They represent a healthy influx of new plants resulting from seed falling from the mature plants. It usually takes about two years of growth before the plants will flower. In this picture are young seedling plants with only one or two leaves, on up to plants making their first attempt at producing a flower stalk. The broad mix of ages indicates a healthy population that is rapidly increasing in size.

The orange spikes growing out of the central disk are bracts associated with the individual florets of the flower head. The curled stigmas of the floret can be seen down between the bracts. The bracts must act as a beacon to attract pollinators.

This colorful guy perfectly compliments the pastels of the petals. He looks as though he was designed to sit on this flower. I wonder if he’s the one that chewed all those holes.

Those legs look slightly out of proportion to the body. I think I’ve taken pictures of a smaller version of this guy earlier this year. My references only deal with adult specimens so I may never know what species this is.

Purple Coneflower

The Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, was the first plant I came across at Blue Jay Barrens that I knew belonged to the prairie.

This is where I saw it. From here I could see the bright lavender rays waving on a long stalk just to the right of that center cedar. That was twenty years ago and my field notes indicate about a dozen plants were growing in this area.

That particular plant is gone, but there are now many more. The rays show signs of predation. In a healthy ecosystem, something is always eating something else. I’d be worried if I saw plants that weren’t being chewed on.

I found quite a few plants growing in the shade. Without sunlight, the coneflower survives as a few basal leaves and rarely flowers.

This is one of those areas that contained many dozens of plants that didn’t flower. Five years ago I cut enough cedars to allow about 50% sunlight to reach the ground. The number of blooming plants increases each year.

I’m still evaluating this site. There are a lot of woody plants trying to grow here that could compete with the coneflowers. I’ll probably mow this area in the winter and remove a couple more cedars.

This is the part of the Purple Coneflowers that I most enjoy. This central disk looks like a fiber optics display.

When the plant is through and the seeds have been dropped, you are left with the cone. This was left from last season.